In process automation technology, field devices are often applied, which serve for registering and/or influencing process variables. Examples of such field devices are fill level measuring devices, mass flow measuring devices, pressure, and temperature, measuring devices, etc., which, as sensors, register the corresponding process variables, fill level, flow, pressure, or temperature.
Serving for influencing process variables are actuators, which, for example, as valves, influence the flow of a liquid in a section of pipeline, or, as pumps, the fill level in a container. A large number of such field devices are manufactured and sold by the companies of the firm, Endress+Hauser.
As a rule, field devices are connected in modern automated plants via communication systems, HART, Profibus, Foundation Fieldbus, etc., with superordinated units (e.g. control systems, or control units). These superordinated units can serve for plant control, process visualization, plant monitoring as well as for start-up of the field devices. For servicing field devices, corresponding operating software in the form of operating programs is necessary. These operating programs, which, most often, function also as plant monitoring applications (asset management systems), can run self-sufficiently in a superordinated unit (FieldCare, Endress+Hauser; Pactware; AMS, Emerson; Simatic PDM, Siemens) or, however, also be integrated into control system applications (Simatic S7, Siemens; ABB Symphony, DeltaV, Emerson). As a rule, the integration of field devices in a superordinated unit occurs with the assistance of so-called device descriptions. Such device descriptions exist for the communication systems, HART, Profibus, Foundation Fieldbus.
Recently, field devices have become known, which no longer communicate hardwired with superordinated units, but, instead, wirelessly. Most often, the communication with the superordinated units occurs not exclusively wirelessly. As a rule, the field devices communicate wirelessly with a gateway, which is connected to a fast, cable-bound, data network (e.g. Ethernet).
In the case of radio, or wireless, networks, such can be, for example, self organizing networks, which are designed as MESH networks. In the case of such networks, the communication path between transmitter and receiver is relatively flexible. If e.g. the radio connection between two participants of the network is momentarily disturbed, then the data are forwarded via other participants of the radio, or wireless, network.
For plant safety, the quality of the data transmission in the networks is an important variable. Therefore, network analyzers are already known, which monitor the parameters relevant for the communication in the network, such as hoppings, retries, or the connection quality. These network analyzers are separate units, and the won information can only be displayed and stored in the units themselves.
A simple and secure plant monitoring is not possible with the known network analyzers.